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New Jersey Girls No Longer Stranded in a War Zone

Out of a jam: Ashley Evans (in orange) and Sophia Evans (in pink) with their father, Joseph Evans (left), and Representative Chris Smith, at the United States Embassy in Tbilisi. (Associated Press)

A vacation cut short by sickness or bad weather is a nuisance, of course. But imagine taking a long-awaited trip to visit relatives overseas, only to have that summer vacation interrupted by a war.

That was the crisis facing two young girls from New Jersey on an annual trip this summer to visit their maternal grandparents in the Republic of Georgia. The girls — Ashley Evans, 7, and her sister Sophia, 3 — traveled with their parents to Georgia in June, and stayed on to spend the summer in their grandmother’s care after their parents returned to New Jersey a short time later; the idea was for the grandmother to bring the girls back to the United States on Aug. 26.

They could not have foreseen that Georgia — with its bucolic farms and serene, mountainous landscape — would soon be enveloped in a war, nor that they would have, of all countries, France to thank for shepherding them to safety. Though some members of Congress (and their constituents) have lavished scorn and ridicule upon the French for their reluctance to bless the 2003 invasion of Iraq — do the words “freedom fries” ring a bell? — in this case a French diplomat came to the American girls’ assistance by executing a daring plan.

When the fighting started in the breakaway district of South Ossetia and Russian troops poured into Georgia, the girls found themselves trapped on their grandparents’ farm — not in imminent danger, but unable to negotiate the roads or find an exit out of the country. The girls’ father, Joseph Evans, told the Associated Press that he spoke to them by phone during the ordeal and tried to reassure Ashley, the 7-year-old, that they would soon be reunited. He said the girls were within a few miles of some of the bloodshed.

At one point during a telephone conversation, Ashley said to him, “I want to go home, the Russian troops are here,” Mr. Evans told The New York Daily News.

Representative Chris Smith, a Republican whose congressional district spans central New Jersey from Trenton to Point Pleasant and who has worked on international human rights issues for years, flew to Georgia earlier this week to try to help the girls. He found assistance there in the form of Eric Fournier, the French ambassador to Georgia.

Mr. Fournier has had some troubles with Russian troops — including, apparently, at one point being detained — but he succeeded in getting to the grandparents’ farm by traveling with a team from an international aid group, reaching the girls at 8 a.m. local time today. Then came the journey back to Tbilisi — six hours, ten checkpoints, and one perilous ride through a combat zone — before the group arrived safely at the United States Embassy in Tbilisi, where Happy Meals and cake awaited the girls (not to mention Dad and the congressman). From there, they will soon be traveling home to New Jersey.

As for continuing the annual tradition of summers on a Georgian farm, the girls’ father is thinking twice.

“Man, this is it for me,” Mr. Evans told The Associated Press. “I think I’ll take them to the beach next summer.”

Thank God, My prayers have been answered. These girls are my nieces and I am so much relieved. The fears of impending doom looming over all of the family was horrific. I fully intend to write Mr. Chris Smith and Mr. Fournier, to thank them for their assistance, above and beyond their calls to duty, during this crisis.
Thanks to The Lede and other on-line sites, I have been able to remain knowledgeable throughout these days filled with fear for the girl’s safety. Having knowledge gives hope, without it you feel like you’re in a black hole surrounded by the fears, which is debilitating.

Thank-you again.

Cheryl Evans
Columbus, Ohio

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